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Teach adult kids the basics of finance if they don’t already have a good grasp.Take 12 to 24 months to help them get on their feet financially. For example, you could tell them that for the first six months, you’ll pay for their cellphone plan, but after that, it’s up to them.Continue helping with student loans longest – for about 18 months — while your grown kids get used to assuming other responsibilities and get some success under their belts.Tell the kids what they can and can’t expect from you.Make a road map for this journey, with goals and dates for achieving them.“[S]even classes of students have graduated into an acutely weak labor market and have had to compete with more-experienced workers for a limited number of job opportunities,” says a study by the Economic Policy Institute.

Younger adults’ economic difficulties are a reflection of long-term economic trends. Fewer high-paying factory jobs are available for workers who have only a high school diploma, The Wall Street Journal writes.

Here’s a good rule of thumb for budgeting: Earmark 50 percent of income for needs, 30 percent for wants and put 20 percent in savings.

Don’t cut off your kids suddenly or in one drastic step.

Despite the economic headwinds, they still must become independent.

And by helping them financially, you may be subtly signaling that you don’t trust that they are capable of caring for themselves. Most of us need to try — and try again — until we figure out how to get it right.

Here’s what a May 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found: Although the recession is behind us, the recovery has been tepid and many young Americans still are struggling financially.